Like Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, but in Switzerland: the quiet neighbour travels best

Our one line calls Klosters the quiet, pretty neighbour to Davos. Our read on it is discreet, it is tagged quiet as Saint-Martin is, and its list runs to discretion, families and the Davos link. Set that beside Saint-Martin, listed for its Three Valleys access, and the two are built the same way: a quiet place to stay, with a lift into skiing it shares with a bigger name. Here it is the Gotschna cable car, up to the Parsenn, the 95.5 kilometre mountain Klosters shares with Davos.

The snow carries over. Sixty nine percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 75, the skiing reaches 2,808 metres, 117 above yours, and on our measure Klosters is snow sure. Half its piste sits above 2,046 metres, against 2,040 at Saint-Martin. The village is the catch: at 1,191 metres it is 259 below yours, and the lowest piste we measure runs down to 988.

Underfoot it is gentler still, whatever the map says. Only 23.7 kilometres is graded blue and easier, against your 50.2 of green and blue. But those reds average 17.1 percent, the gentlest reds of the 55 resorts we cover, and barely steeper than your blues at 16.6. Only 15 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 20, and the 11.7 kilometres of black are the gentlest blacks of the 55 resorts we cover too.

What you give up is one linked area. Davos Klosters is six separate mountains, and only the Parsenn is shared; the rest need a train, a bus or a car. The official 300 kilometres comes to 224 measured across the same ten lift areas. Around Klosters itself we measure 96.9 kilometres, 21.8 more than around Saint-Martin. It is tagged upmarket as well as quiet, and you fly to Zurich.

Of all 55 resorts we cover, our matching puts Crans-Montana nearest to Saint-Martin, and the measured skiing bears that out. Its village, at 1,500 metres, is 50 above yours. It has the same share of gentle piste, 36 percent gentler than 15 percent, and close to the same share of steep: 22 percent is steeper than one in four, where yours is 20. It goes higher, with the skiing up to 2,868 by our measurement, 177 above your top, and 79 percent of the piste at or above 1,800 metres, the fourth largest share of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover. It is snow sure on our measure.

Read the gradient, not the colours. Swiss grading marks most of Crans-Montana red, so only 22.0 kilometres counts as blue and easier, the fifth least of the 55 resorts we cover. Yet its reds average 19.2 percent, kinder than your 21.9, and its blues 13.3. It is all one linked area of 140 kilometres, a figure three independent sources match to the kilometre, and we measure 85.2 around the resort, about 10 more than around Saint-Martin. The hard end is bigger: 12.9 kilometres of black where you have 6.0, and 3.2 of marked off piste itinerary where we measure none at Saint-Martin.

What does not travel is the village. Crans-Montana is a sunny plateau with wide views over the Rhône, sunny and smart by our read, and its list runs to sunshine, golf and spa, and families. Its tag is family, not traditional or quiet. Geneva serves both.

If the old village is what you would miss most, Adelboden is the Swiss answer: a classic chalet village linked to Lenk, traditional and warm by our read, listed as traditional, for families and for its World Cup racing. It is the only one of the three tagged traditional, but not quiet. The village sits at 1,350 metres, 100 below yours, and it has the most blue and easier of the three picks, 52.3 kilometres, close to your 50.2 of green and blue. It is steeper than that suggests: 25 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 20, the joint third biggest share of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover.

The bigger trade is height. Adelboden does not pass our snow sure test: 55 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, and the skiing tops out at 2,356, 335 below yours. The Adelboden-Lenk domain you can ski from the village is 85 kilometres, Lenk included; the pass covers 188, across five areas that are not all joined, and our 114.6 measured around the village takes in more than the linked domain. You fly to Zurich or Geneva.